W Day

This morning I collected Libby at 8.30 & we went to Bowling Green Marsh for a few hours. It was really busy out on the marsh as the waders flew in on the rising tide. There were some nice birds including about 10 Curlew Sandpipers, Knot, Ruff, Spotted Redshank, Avocet & a Med Gull. Surprisingly for a Sunday morning, it wasn't too busy in the hide.

Despite there being no reports of the Wryneck at Dawlish Warren, we decided to go and give it a try. We paid our £3.50 for the car park, giving us 4 hours to walk out to Warren Point,  find the Wryneck & get back. By now a sighting had been posted on Birdguides, so at least we knew it was still about. Out on Warren Point we met a chap who had been walking along the path & flushed the Wryneck, so we walked a loop around the path and set up the scopes on the dunes overlooking the area where the bird had vanished.

Wryneck hunting

We saw plenty of Linnets, Stonechats, Juvenile Starlings, a few Wheatears & a Skylark, and then a rather nice Whinchat, my first of the year. There had been quite a few birders about when we arrived, but they'd gradually wandered off leaving only us and one other chap. We'd set a deadline for leaving, and as it approached we decided to wander back to the path where the Wryneck had been flushed earlier. We hadn't been there long when I heard a whistle & looked up to see the other birder waving at us. We dashed over & he pointed out a Willow tree where the Wryneck had just landed, having been flushed from the path again.

The Wryneck Willow....the right of the 2 trees in the centre of the photo

Luckily it was still there & we managed to watch it for several minutes before it dropped down out of sight. Not the best of views as it was partially obscured by foliage, but good enough to see all of its distinguishing features. It was a Lifer for Libby, and only my second ever, the first having been on the Scillies in 2004. We followed the path back towards the car park, and had a better view of it as it flew up into the Willow again. We were happy bunnies as we hurried back to the car park, having over run our ticket in our excitement.

A thoroughly good day......